Another home school option - ColoCA

[th3w01f]

With all the discussions about home schooling I thought I’d post info on one we’ve had success with, Colorado Connections Academy. There are a few like this in Colorado I’m just presenting our experience with this particular one. It’s basically a public/home school option, the curriculum is based on the state requirements and all material is provided for you, there is also an assigned ‘remote’ teacher for each child. Once per week there was a class Webex meeting and once every week or every other week the parents and child talk with the teach. More often if needed and we found the teacher to be very responsive when we had questions.

When our Daughter started 2nd grade it was only 2 weeks in that her teacher (Douglas County) gave us a list of drugs she recommended for kids with ADD (our daughter is not hyperactive or disruptive at all but has trouble paying attention when she’s not interested, who doesn’t). That did it for us, we met with the teach on Thursday and on Monday we had her enrolled in ColoCA. It was a great experience for her and she really enjoyed it. We went back to public school this year but next year we’re probably going to put both of our kids in ColoCA.

This isn’t for everyone, if you’re OK with teaching the primary curriculum and supplementing it with topics of your choice it’s a great option. A school day typically took 3 hours and left a lot of time for other topics and things like field trips, vacations (pheasant hunting :)), etc. Another benefits is that you can do it from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

Like traditional home schooling you get out what you put into it.

[spyder]

We've had our daughter in Colorado Connections Academy for a few years now. We took and put her in the second grade to see if she would like it more (did CCA for the first grade), but two things happened, one, she was far beyond the school systems second grade curriculum (school district 51), and the schools were way way too liberal for us. She defended herself from a boy that was picking on children, and then was threatened by the principal with a bunch of lame shit (she kicked the boys ass, started with a headbutt). Anyway, after looking back at everything, we took her out immediately after that, and haven't looked back.

As the OP said though, you get out of it, what you put into it.

[Katastrophic]

As the mother and "learning coach" of our daughter (th3w01f is my other half) I truly enjoyed seeing first hand what she was learning. I was able to see exactly what she struggled with and we could spend more time on those subjects. On the other side, we got to work ahead as far as we wanted on subjects that she excelled in. With the kids going to school full time this year I've truly missed being able to work ahead certain days so that we can do other enriching activites on other days. As long as we make our outing educational, we can log the hours with the school.
Another thing that has prompted us to consider moving both of our kids to online school next year was our bully experience. Our daughter handled it better than most adults would have but the school has done nothing about this kid. This is the kid's third school in 3 years because her behavior is so bad. I know we can't shelter the kiddos from everything and I don't want to. But like Spyder said the schools are so liberal these days that the kids have no concept of punishment, failure, or even success. You can neither have nor appreciate success unless you get the opportunity to have and appreciate failure.

[HBARleatherneck]

we use online, ABC Mouse for the little ones and Time for Learning for the 1st and second grade levels. (so far). we also do alot of book work and hands on learning

http://www.abcmouse.com/
https://www.time4learning.com/

[Katastrophic]

The hands on learning part is what I enjoy so much. When we can escape to the mountains, we spend all day outside just exploring. We also plan on taking some road trips to see places like Yellowstone. Which are far more tolerable in the off season. Last summer we dug for fish fossils. That was quite the experience for all of us. But now I don't know where to put the fossils we found :)

[10mm-man]

With all the discussions about home schooling I thought I’d post info on one we’ve had success with, Colorado Connections Academy. There are a few like this in Colorado I’m just presenting our experience with this particular one. It’s basically a public/home school option, the curriculum is based on the state requirements and all material is provided for you, there is also an assigned ‘remote’ teacher for each child. Once per week there was a class Webex meeting and once every week or every other week the parents and child talk with the teach. More often if needed and we found the teacher to be very responsive when we had questions.

When our Daughter started 2nd grade it was only 2 weeks in that her teacher (Douglas County) gave us a list of drugs she recommended for kids with ADD (our daughter is not hyperactive or disruptive at all but has trouble paying attention when she’s not interested, who doesn’t). That did it for us, we met with the teach on Thursday and on Monday we had her enrolled in ColoCA. It was a great experience for her and she really enjoyed it. We went back to public school this year but next year we’re probably going to put both of our kids in ColoCA.

This isn’t for everyone, if you’re OK with teaching the primary curriculum and supplementing it with topics of your choice it’s a great option. A school day typically took 3 hours and left a lot of time for other topics and things like field trips, vacations (pheasant hunting :)), etc. Another benefits is that you can do it from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection.

Like traditional home schooling you get out what you put into it.


I have my son in K-12/cova, it was a little hard adjusting to the fact that we have so much more freedom! Travel, staying up late, waking up when we want, etc....... he spends a shit load more time with me and goes to work with me as well...... It does take some discipline though, to get the work done.

[HBARleatherneck]

delete

[10mm-man]

We have 140 acres, so we have plenty of room to explore. Whenever I slaughter an animal, I put the skulls out to be cleaned by the bugs and bleached by the sun. After that I take and bury them in places all over. I send the kids out with shovels, paint brushes, notebooks, and a digital camera. I point them in the right direction about where to look. They think they find dinosaur bones. Then they clean the bones, catalog their findings and photograph the site and bones. Then they look up in their books and online to figure out what the bones are from.



We have had rabbits, goats of all sizes, cows, calves, buffalo, horses and more that they have "discovered". No dinosaurs yet though.

Very cool! I am looking for property right now, but worry about isolating my boy to much. it is just me and him........

[palepainter]

I have my daughter in Calvert Academy. It is a nicely structured curriculum, pprobably much like CCA.
We are in our third year with the program. Best thing we could have done.
http://coloradocalvertacademy.com/

[def90]

When our Daughter started 2nd grade it was only 2 weeks in that her teacher (Douglas County) gave us a list of drugs she recommended for kids with ADD (our daughter is not hyperactive or disruptive at all but has trouble paying attention when she’s not interested, who doesn’t)..

That's me 24 hours a day.. it really sucks sometimes, I have a pile of shit in front of me that needs to be done and I stare out the window.. lol.

[th3w01f]

That's me 24 hours a day.. it really sucks sometimes, I have a pile of shit in front of me that needs to be done and I stare out the window.. lol.

LOL.... me too. I think most people actually have ADD, at least as it's diagnosed.

[sniper7]

thanks for the insight. I would be interested in something like this, especially with the amount of time I have off, the flexible schedule I have and I would love to be able to teach my son. However, with my wife being a middle school teacher in the public school system I doubt she will buy into it...unless she was a stay at home mom and could teach our son (and future kid(s)) herself.

[sellersm]

We've done Branson School online, Edison Online Academy, TCA Cottage School program and some others. Each has its own strength and weaknesses. We know lots of folks in COVA and they like it.

Just remember that there are options and if you don't find a fit, don't give up the search!! And ultimately, it's up to US, the parents, to educate our kids. Especially when it comes to things that make America the unique nation it is!!

[Katastrophic]

thanks for the insight. I would be interested in something like this, especially with the amount of time I have off, the flexible schedule I have and I would love to be able to teach my son. However, with my wife being a middle school teacher in the public school system I doubt she will buy into it...unless she was a stay at home mom and could teach our son (and future kid(s)) herself.


I understand where you're coming from. I've gotten quite a bit of negativity from professional teachers. My own aunt unfriended me on fb and my husband's aunt (who teaches in our school district) told us, very sternly, that there is Nothing wrong with Douglas County schools. I feel, however, that under certain circumstances if the parents are patient enough and have the proper support that teaching your own children is one of the most rewarding things one can do as a parent. I know how my child learns... she's not an easy student. I know what motivates her and I also know that with me it's not going to take two months into the school year to learn how to teach her, like other teachers need. This was reconfirmed this school year when we tried traditional school again. That's wasted time. As a child, every day counts. Not to mention the fact that the homeschooled child doesn't need to wait for 20+ other students to finish their assignment before he gets help. That means the paperwork part of the day is done in just a couple of hours with the rest of the day left for enrichment. Another thing is the kids aren't run down in the evenings. Basically, the time it has taken for us to do homework this year is the same amount of time it took for us to do the Entire day's curriculum last year. It's ridiculous. On one more personal note (sorry I've been so outspoken but I'm passionate about the kiddos) I, obviously, stay home and my husband works from home when he's not traveling around the world. So our schedule doesn't have a hard set beginning or end due to time zones. It's nice if we have a late night trip to the airport, conference call, or just a "goodnight dad!" phone call to not have to worry about getting up at 6:45 am.

[sniper7]

I understand where you're coming from. I've gotten quite a bit of negativity from professional teachers. My own aunt unfriended me on fb and my husband's aunt (who teaches in our school district) told us, very sternly, that there is Nothing wrong with Douglas County schools. I feel, however, that under certain circumstances if the parents are patient enough and have the proper support that teaching your own children is one of the most rewarding things one can do as a parent. I know how my child learns... she's not an easy student. I know what motivates her and I also know that with me it's not going to take two months into the school year to learn how to teach her, like other teachers need. This was reconfirmed this school year when we tried traditional school again. That's wasted time. As a child, every day counts. Not to mention the fact that the homeschooled child doesn't need to wait for 20+ other students to finish their assignment before he gets help. That means the paperwork part of the day is done in just a couple of hours with the rest of the day left for enrichment. Another thing is the kids aren't run down in the evenings. Basically, the time it has taken for us to do homework this year is the same amount of time it took for us to do the Entire day's curriculum last year. It's ridiculous. On one more personal note (sorry I've been so outspoken but I'm passionate about the kiddos) I, obviously, stay home and my husband works from home when he's not traveling around the world. So our schedule doesn't have a hard set beginning or end due to time zones. It's nice if we have a late night trip to the airport, conference call, or just a "goodnight dad!" phone call to not have to worry about getting up at 6:45 am.

yep. pretty much every teacher out there will tell you there is nothing wrong or the problems are being fixed etc etc. the socialization issues are what I worry about the most. but that can be handled as well. getting the immediate help, learning at the right pace, getting the one on one attention, breezing through the stuff they get instead of waiting around for the rest of the class, etc etc etc. there are a ton of pros to this type of teaching.

[Katastrophic]

We send the kiddos to Jiu Jitsu, so they get some socialization, although I know it's not for everyone... But there's soccer, baseball etc. lots of opportunities to get together. Connections academy also does scheduled field trips so the kids can get together after talking online.